1 minute ago, e-a-g-l-e-s eagles! said:

There’s no reason why Marsh shouldn’t be practicing it every single day before games. The fact of the matter is how many times has he come up where you want him to bunt the runner over? Probably not many. That’s just the way it is. stubbs does not even play all that often and he still knows how to bunt a baseball. It’s because he works at in the cages. This is on marsh. 

Bunting for hits is a part of Stubbs’ game.

The fact that this team doesn’t attempt to sac bunt very often is on the manager. The same reason. 
 

Maybe spit Thompson’s D out before the games? 

1 hour ago, Tnt4philly said:

If your manager and coaches does not push bunting, or small ball in general, why would you work on it? 
 

Fat boy should have bunted to start the bottom of the 11th as well but he didn’t, because it isn’t Thomson’s style. 

Your argument doesn’t stand on point because Rojas has gotten better at bunting and they don’t ask him to do it all that often either. But he’s gotten better at it because he practices even though the Phillies are rarely gonna use it. But since he’s been practicing at it, it’s another tool in his repertoire as he needs it cause he’s not a great hitter yet. Similar to what marsh should be doing since he has speed 

 you think when Stubbs was signed they were like just go up there and bunt the baseball every time? No he Fing practiced at it and that’s why he got good at it. And it’s not the only thing he’s doing in batting practice either. He’s not spending all batting practice trying to perfect his bunting game. The Phillies weren’t like Stubbs you kind of suck just start bunting every time.

1 hour ago, Tnt4philly said:

Bunting for hits is a part of Stubbs’ game.

The fact that this team doesn’t attempt to sac bunt very often is on the manager. The same reason. 
 

Maybe spit Thompson’s D out before the games? 

The only reason why it’s part of Stubbs his game is because he practiced it. Do you think Stubbs was like Hey I’m just gonna randomly start bunting all the time in games. No he had to learn it. He learned how to do it even though we don’t play small ball and our manager (all of baseball really) aren’t going to do it. You’re not gonna learn how to do it just doing it in a Fing game. Maybe take marsh’s d of your mouth as he’s a professional that should be able to get a bunt down.  

what makes this more hilarious is that I go after topper a ton on here. So your idiotic comment makes no Fing sense. However I’ve seen enough baseball games from other teams that don’t ask their guys to do it very often either. And majority of the time they don’t nearly look that awful at it as marsh did. The fact of the matter is baseball has changed that no teams are really doing it often. So the biggest way you’re gonna get better at it is to do it in practice. And this doesn’t need to be a whole batting practice session of doing it. 3-5 minutes a session. That’s probably all you need to learn how to just get the ball down. Rojas, marsh, stott and Hays are likely the 4 guys that would be asked to do it. he should take time to learn. Because he’s the type of guy that is likely to be asked if the situation arose like tonight. And with how much marsh was struggling, he should take a page out of Rojas‘s book and start to learn/practice how to bunt. Because it could be useful to him because he has speed that you can bunt for a hit here and there.

let me just point out over the last five years, Bryce Harper, trea Turner, Kyle Schwarber, Stott all have bunted and have had success getting a bunt down. some of the times getting a hit. But Brandon marsh gets the  excuse of we don’t do it often? all four of those guys besides maybe Stott are asked even less than marsh to do it. How about we start Fing blaming players who can’t execute a simple thing of getting a bunt down. I will blame topper for a lot of things that go wrong in games. I’m not gonna blame him for a professional hitter not being able to do the simple thing of getting a bunt down. 

Fun game. Estevez came up huge. Was a little shaky when he first got to Philly after the trade but has been really solid lately. Having him close which then allows Hoffman to be your setup guy is big. 

Lol

 

Great character to grind out the last two.

1 hour ago, e-a-g-l-e-s eagles! said:

No offense, if you’re a major-league player, you should be able to get a Fing bunt down. It didn’t even even have to to be a successful bunt in terms of getting on base. You just had to get a bunt down. If you’re a major league player and you need to have multiple games where you practiced executing it there’s a bigger problem. Because you should’ve been learning that all season not during a game and throughout the minors 
 

This was the discussion I had with my brother last year about the shift.  IMO it never should have been allowed and made the game look bush league.  He’s a far more devoted baseball fan than I am, and his position is players should be penalized for hitting into the shift.

If I was a MLB player I can promise I would have taken the free hit every time a defense tried the shift on me.  They’re giving up one, and often times two, free bases by leaving one whole side of the diamond open.  As you said, a major league player should be able to hold his hands back and guide the ball where needed — especially for something like sacrifice bunting or to get on base.  Unfortunately, most hitters swing for HR or strikeout, because of ANAL-ytics.

For me, from a viewing perspective, it made the caliber of play inferior because there’s a whole open side of the field to hit into, and there’s the batter striking out, again and again.  

1 hour ago, Alphagrand said:

This was the discussion I had with my brother last year about the shift.  IMO it never should have been allowed and made the game look bush league.  He’s a far more devoted baseball fan than I am, and his position is players should be penalized for hitting into the shift.

If I was a MLB player I can promise I would have taken the free hit every time a defense tried the shift on me.  They’re giving up one, and often times two, free bases by leaving one whole side of the diamond open.  As you said, a major league player should be able to hold his hands back and guide the ball where needed — especially for something like sacrifice bunting or to get on base.  Unfortunately, most hitters swing for HR or strikeout, because of ANAL-ytics.

For me, from a viewing perspective, it made the caliber of play inferior because there’s a whole open side of the field to hit into, and there’s the batter striking out, again and again.  

I tend to agree with your brother that you should be penalized if you’re gonna keep hitting into the shift. I was fine with implementing a ban of the shift. I thought it would lead to more offense doing it especially with how pitchers have more disgusting stuff now. But I also agree with you I would’ve done that a bunch of times if they are giving me a free hit and taken it. Can start a rally that way or even get yourself feeling better about yourself and get you some confidence.

Imo the reason marsh isnt able to get a bunt down isn’t strictly cause he doesn’t get to do it in a game enough. It’s like his approach at the plate, there’s times he’s swinging regardless and it doesn’t matter if it’s a good pitch or not. He’s a free swinger that has a higher swing and miss rate cause he doesn’t always follow the pitch. He's guessing more often when he’s in a slump and it’s why you watch him just swing at nonsense. he is like you said HR/big swing or strikeout. On his bunt attempt he did an awful job making sure he saw the pitch in (particularly the second pitch) to know if he could get the bunt down and getting his bat/hands into the best position to get it down. 

Tbh I’m less worried about the pitching as long as Ranger can get himself back on track. I think they have the guys to get it done in the bullpen and the rotation. Imo i still worry about their hitting. Even though they won the last two nights, they went 2-12 with RISP. For the series they were 4-27. The last week they were 9-52. That’s coming off a 12-27 two game stretch vs. the royals. It’s similar to what they did in the playoffs last year. You don’t have to be good every single game with risp. But you can’t go 4-6 game stretches just being bad cause at some point it will get you. Last 4 playoff series they have gone .167 (5-30) vs. Astros, .217 (5-23) vs. Marlins, .219 (7-32) vs. braves and .235 (12-51) vs. dbacks (really skewed cause game 2 they were amazing at 5-7 but the other 6 games they hit .159 (7-44)). 

48 minutes ago, Alphagrand said:

This was the discussion I had with my brother last year about the shift.  IMO it never should have been allowed and made the game look bush league.  He’s a far more devoted baseball fan than I am, and his position is players should be penalized for hitting into the shift.

If I was a MLB player I can promise I would have taken the free hit every time a defense tried the shift on me.  They’re giving up one, and often times two, free bases by leaving one whole side of the diamond open.  As you said, a major league player should be able to hold his hands back and guide the ball where needed — especially for something like sacrifice bunting or to get on base.  Unfortunately, most hitters swing for HR or strikeout, because of ANAL-ytics.

For me, from a viewing perspective, it made the caliber of play inferior because there’s a whole open side of the field to hit into, and there’s the batter striking out, again and again.  

In the late seventies, the Phillies had a lefthanded hitting first baseman named Richie Hebner. In one game in Cincinnati, the Reds deployed a shift on him. I forget where the put the third baseman but he was nowhere near third base. The first time up, Hebner bunted for a single. The Reds did the same thing his next time up. Hebner bunted for a single. His next time up, the result was the exact same. A shift and a bunt single. His fourth time up, they wised up and put the third baseman at third base. Hebner ended up going 5-5 that game if my memory serves me. Three bunts and two "normal" hits.

2 hours ago, FranklinFldEBUpper said:

In the late seventies, the Phillies had a lefthanded hitting first baseman named Richie Hebner. In one game in Cincinnati, the Reds deployed a shift on him. I forget where the put the third baseman but he was nowhere near third base. The first time up, Hebner bunted for a single. The Reds did the same thing his next time up. Hebner bunted for a single. His next time up, the result was the exact same. A shift and a bunt single. His fourth time up, they wised up and put the third baseman at third base. Hebner ended up going 5-5 that game if my memory serves me. Three bunts and two "normal" hits.

Richie was a grave digger in the offseason early in his career

3 hours ago, e-a-g-l-e-s eagles! said:

Tbh I’m less worried about the pitching as long as Ranger can get himself back on track. I think they have the guys to get it done in the bullpen and the rotation. Imo i still worry about their hitting. Even though they won the last two nights, they went 2-12 with RISP. For the series they were 4-27. The last week they were 9-52. That’s coming off a 12-27 two game stretch vs. the royals. It’s similar to what they did in the playoffs last year. You don’t have to be good every single game with risp. But you can’t go 4-6 game stretches just being bad cause at some point it will get you. Last 4 playoff series they have gone .167 (5-30) vs. Astros, .217 (5-23) vs. Marlins, .219 (7-32) vs. braves and .235 (12-51) vs. dbacks (really skewed cause game 2 they were amazing at 5-7 but the other 6 games they hit .159 (7-44)). 

I don't think he can, he is more suited for the bullpen

10 hours ago, e-a-g-l-e-s eagles! said:

Lol

 

He’s such a jackass  

2 hours ago, mikemack8 said:

He’s such a jackass  

Yes ... but he's our jackass!

 

After starting the season in a prolonged and deep slump, Nick has been the most consistent hitter over the last three months.  Others had hotter periods but no one has hit as consistently as he has.  Turner is probably the closest or maybe Bohm but they've had their periods of going ice cold.  I suppose Sosa is in the mix somewhere but he hasn't been an everyday player.  Am I forgetting someone?

3 minutes ago, DrPhilly said:

After starting the season in a prolonged and deep slump, Nick has been the most consistent hitter over the last three months.  Others had hotter periods but no one has hit as consistently as he has.  Turner is probably the closest or maybe Bohm but they've had their periods of going ice cold.  I suppose Sosa is in the mix somewhere but he hasn't been an everyday player.  Am I forgetting someone?

Would’ve said schwarber was pretty good before this last 3 weeks. He wasn’t hitting HRs at the pace of the previous two years but his average was up and he was hitting really well with risp. His last 3 weeks have just been brutally bad. 

10 minutes ago, e-a-g-l-e-s eagles! said:

Would’ve said schwarber was pretty good before this last 3 weeks. He wasn’t hitting HRs at the pace of the previous two years but his average was up and he was hitting really well with risp. His last 3 weeks have just been brutally bad. 

He's fallen off a cliff.  He had a good hit to lead off the game last night.  Maybe that can get him going.

1 hour ago, DrPhilly said:

He's fallen off a cliff.  He had a good hit to lead off the game last night.  Maybe that can get him going.

When Schwarber was hitting .250 it was a career-year pace for him.  He had one year where he hit .266 but that was skewed by the half season he played in BOS where his hitting average was artificially high.  He’s a career .228 hitter even with that stretch and destined to strikeout 200+ times.  Definitely will never be a fan favorite in my eyes, but he produces runs from the leadoff spot, so there is some good to go along with the bad.  He’s the ultimate mixed-bag player you just hope gets hot at the right time.

I’ve always viewed him as more suited to hit fifth in the lineup, but I certainly don’t want opponents to pitch around Harper and Bohm just to watch Schwarber strikeout in big spots with runners on base.  Maybe hitting leadoff and solo home runs in volume is his niche.

8 minutes ago, Alphagrand said:

When Schwarber was hitting .250 it was a career-year pace for him.  He had one year where he hit .266 but that was skewed by the half season he played in BOS where his hitting average was artificially high.  He’s a career .228 hitter even with that stretch and destined to strikeout 200+ times.  Definitely will never be a fan favorite in my eyes, but he produces runs from the leadoff spot, so there is some good to go along with the bad.  He’s the ultimate mixed-bag player you just hope gets hot at the right time.

I’ve always viewed him as more suited to hit fifth in the lineup, but I certainly don’t want opponents to pitch around Harper and Bohm just to watch Schwarber strikeout in big spots with runners on base.  Maybe hitting leadoff and solo home runs in volume is his niche.

Yeah, I get that he doesn't hit for average but he hasn't hit a HR for three weeks now.  Hopefully, he'll get hot again soon and then carry that thru the post season.  I fully expect him to do that and by hot I mean HRs, walks, and occasional other hits.  He's never going to hit .300 for more than say a week or so.

 

Man Willy Adames is carrying the brewers right now. He’s been on a tear. Since August 1 he’s hitting .284./.366/.615/.981 with 12 HRs and 28 RBI. But over his last 11 games (including his first at bat today) his slashes are .357/.426/.883/1.309 with 7 HRs and 14 RBI

With how he’s progressing there’s a chance he could be ready by midseason next year. His numbers don’t look eye popping but how he’s hit lately and developed over his time in Clearwater and jersey shore has been amazing. In his last 30 games  his slashes are .319/.397/.560/.957 with 4 HRs, 4 triples, 8 doubles and 18 RBI

 

Hoskins hit a HR today for the brewers. First year back from the ACL he’s on pace to finish with 27 HRs and 82 RBI (based off games he’s sat he’s going to play around 129 games). His avg and OBP is down but i suspect he’s back closer to what he has been the second year back from his knee injury. 

1 hour ago, e-a-g-l-e-s eagles! said:

With how he’s progressing there’s a chance he could be ready by midseason next year. His numbers don’t look eye popping but how he’s hit lately and developed over his time in Clearwater and jersey shore has been amazing. In his last 30 games  his slashes are .319/.397/.560/.957 with 4 HRs, 4 triples, 8 doubles and 18 RBI

 

If he is a starter next year where does he play?  2B?